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by MIA FREEDMAN
The other night I was talking about something in the news. Can’t remember what it was. And my 14yo son had no idea what I was talking about. This was shocking to me. Even though I can’t recall watching much news when I was 14.
In the car the next day, I said to him, “Right, you need to start watching the news every night. You need to know what’s going on in the world.”
“I do know what’s going on,” he insisted. ‘Ask me something.”
So here is what I asked him:
1. What new tax comes in on July 1st?
2. Who is the leader of the Opposition?
3. Who is Lindy Chamberlain?
4. What happened on September 11, 2001?
5. Who is the PM of Britain? (we had a slight stumble here where he said “Downing” and then corrected himself and said “Michael someone – no wait, that’s the PM in Little Britain”.)
6. What wars is Australia currently fighting in?
7. When is the next US election?
8. Who is challenging Obama for the presidency?
9. What parties are these two men from?
He pretty much nailed it which surprised me enormously because I don’t see him consuming media in the same way I do. But he studied 9/11 at school and the rest he just…..knew.
My own general knowledge is patchy. There are gaping great holes where geography and history should be for a start. And there are many things I have such a superficial knowledge of that……it’s almost too embarassing to admit.
You know when you get to that point where it’s too late to ask someone’s name? Because you SHOULD know it and to ask is just too humiliating.
I’m like that with a fair number of things.
Like wine. And literature. And classic films. And the GFC. And climate change. And did I mention Geography?
Perhaps you have some black spots in your general knowledge too. Gaps. So we’ve decided to do a regular series of posts where we find experts to explain things. Like our cheatsheets.
How is your general knowledge? What do you JUST NOT UNDERSTAND? Gaping holes you’re too embarassed to admit? Any special requests?
Comments
283 Comments so far
Sooo many people think Geography is about knowing the names of countries and mountains etc.. BUT IT ISN’T!!! Try Global Inequality- food shortages and what groups and governments are doing about the situation.
21st C Geography is more social than you think.
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I was hoping to make a comment on the story by James Wilkinson (?) about Childcare but there was no “reply” to click on. Is this issue too hot, have you closed of the comment section??
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My kids know more about Australian politics and politicians, rather than American ones. Although my son thought Mr Abbott was called Mr Rabbit.
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LOL! My 6 year old announced the other day, “Mum, Julia is going down and Tony is going up” and all i could say was, “Thank God for that!”
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I think Julia Gillard does not understand much about anything and is a terrible Prime Minister. She’s only interested in her own power. She also has an unhealthy obsession with Tony Abbott. She can’t stop talking about him. It’s Abbott this and Abbott that. It’s time for her to go.
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Please read comments about politics (below) for how much you don’t know.
Julia has very little power. She is in a minority government and has to negotiate and compromise for every piece of legislation that has been passed (and there have been many). Not a job that I would want. I just want people to do as I say (please don’t argue on this one).
It is the job of the Opposition to attack the Government and it is the Government’s job to fight back.
The public’s personal dislike of both Julia and Tony (his approval rating is lower than hers) is the reason that both the Opposition and the Government try to make this personal. If you don’t like it, perhaps you could start by keeping to the high ground.
It is the way our system works. You will get your chance to vote for your local member (not Julia unless you are in her electorate) in the fullness of time and when the Government chooses to call an election.
There are just as many people who would like the Government to go full term as there are those who would like an election now. So … you are an ant to them.
And then you can complain bitterly and loudly about whoever we get next Because we always complain – it is where politics is in Australia and what we do as a leisure pursuit.
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Why can people leave the most appalling comments about Tony Abbott on this blog but if you say something negative about Julia Gillard you get banned from the blog?
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I have to be careful what I say as I was banned from the whole site. Tony and Julia would make a great couple if only they could get along
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How do Mummy Bloggers feel about being targeted by Julia Gillard? How do Mummy Bloggers feel about being considered soft? Now I know why the Queen of Mummy Bloggers was invited to The Lodge.
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I cannot stand the word mummy. This is only my opinion.
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Betting at the races! I presume that “odds of 2-1″ mean that if you bet $1 on your favourite horse or greyhound or whatever and it wins you get $2 back, but what about “each way” bets? Sounds to me like you’re betting for it to win and you’re betting for it to lose…..it’s all gobbledygook to me – would love someone to enlighten me please (on as much as you could be bothered!)
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It’s more of a way to protect your money a bit because even if your horse doesn’t come first, you can still get some cash back.
When you make a bet each way, you’re betting on the horse winning and/or coming 2nd or 3rd. If you make a $5 ew bet it’ll actually cost you $10 cash as you’re putting $5 on both possibilities – $5 to win, $5 to place. If your horse happens to win the race you’ll get paid on both of your “half bets” = $5 x whatever the winning odds were + $5 x whatever the place odds were. If your horse comes 2nd or 3rd you’ll lose the $5 on the win bet but you’ll be paid $5 x whatever price he paid for the place.
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Brilliant! Thank you for taking the time to explain that.
I looked to see if I could return the favour but you haven’t posted any queries….
Cheers
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haha I haven’t posted any queries because I’d fill the page with about 50 science related ones. Something happened to my brain the first time I heard photosynthesis. Or it might’ve been chlorophyll. I think that’s why my parents always kept my 4th grade science fair ‘thanks for coming out’ ribbon for my project on acid and bases. They knew I had peaked at that point.
And I’m glad the betting tip helped a bit!
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Could there be an article on the northern territory intervention? It’s currently part of my studies at uni, and I’ve been amazed at how much I didn’t know about it, and how much thought I knew but was wrong about. Especially considering last night it was decided it would be extended for another decade. Thanks!
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1. Why are Europe and Asia separate continents when I swear they are THE SAME FREAKING CONTINENT?
2. How do you do long division? I never learnt…
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I would like to think I’m pretty good with general knowledge – politics, world news, geography and history.
But anything to do with money/numbers is completely lost on me. World stock market. GFC. Centrelink’s Family Tax Benefit A AND B. Completely clueless.
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geography is certainly a good one, but at the same time, buying a map is a great idea, or even a atlas.
I don’t have trouble with geography, because I always loved it and love looking at maps. but what goes on my nerves is, that when I say where I am from(switzerland), it’s almost always mixed up with another country(sweden), grrr, those two countries are so far away from each other!
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Down with people who can’t tell Sweden and Switzerland apart!!!
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Mamamia should hold a trivia night!!
We can all relish in our lack of knowledge, bond, and share the love!
It would be EPIC
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Am loving the idea of this new post, my Geography and History knowledge are utterly embarrassing. Good job I have a super clever partner! Can’t wait to be able to wow him with my new found knowledge
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Why you would pay the same amount for 30 seconds, just because its marketed as a ringtone? I think its better make my own, then search for free version
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Fax machines…every single time it puzzles me???
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Yes! To me these seem more miraculous than internet/email.
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I love that you said fax machine. It’s weird but emails I get, but faxes just seem more baffling.
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Oh gosh, you lost me from number 5 onwards! I clearly need to pay more attention. I’m going to blame the baby for this one!
I cannot understand what my husband does for a living…he works at an oil refinery and I think I’m listening when he explains it all to me but then he’s not talking anymore and all I hear is crickets lol.
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Direction. I can walk in to a shop, browse for a bit, walk out, and be going the same way I came without even realising it. I have no idea.
Don’t even get me started about driving in Melbourne. I could drive the same road 5 times, and still have no idea where to turn. Thank god for smart phones!
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The asylum seeker situation. I just don’t get how it still has not been solved. I just don’t get that it takes a couple of more boat disasters for there to be any action. Why hasn’t this been sorted? Another committee? Really? REALLY? And they have 6 weeks to deliver a solution? So, what happens to all the people arriving between now and then? And why now? Why not a bloody long time ago?
Escapes me.
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The problem is not fixed because there are two quite separate goals. One is stopping refugees getting to Australia and the other which pops up when a boat sinks is saving lives and treating refugees humanely. The harder they put the squeeze on to fulfil the former, the more they fail on the latter.
Eg the government seize and sink the boats that carry the refugees to Australia so the people smugglers instead send ships which barely float because they know they won’t get them back. The government arrests the people who crew the boats and so the people smugglers send (sometimes kidnapping them) naive and desperate people to crew the boats who have little experience with boats because they know they’ll get locked up after the trip anyway.
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how to do really basic household stuff that husbands usually do. Like deal with leaking taps, or hang pictures when you have to use a drill, not just a hammer, or rehang a cupboard door. That kind of stuff. I have NO idea.
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Phone plans – caps, $100 worth of unlimited calls (if it’s unlimited, why can you give it a value), yada yada.
Also, team sports rules – eg, football – I know if someone gets a goal, that’s good, but the rest of the finer detail is lost on me. And cricket – the way the score is described sounds completely bizarre to me!
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Computers- I liked the mamamia cheat sheet (post-it note!) for storage capacity… when someone talks computers I just hear ‘blahblahblah’
Ram, meg, bites… ????????? HELP!
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History – what happened to which people and when??? have no idea!
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Okay. For the life of me I cannot understand how (when you speak on the phone) your voice comes out the same on the other end! How?! It’s like magic, except more confusing.
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How’s about fax machines. Mind. Blown
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yeah, but also what about electricity?? u press a button and the it’s light in the room!
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And is the light on in the fridge when the door is closed? Show me.
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My 13 y/o almost nailed it too. Unsure of Lindy Chamberlain and British PM. Otherwise all correct. Have faith in our young people, people.
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So I’m loathe to admit this because since school I have just pretended to know….
I have NEVER understood what the exact difference between the Senate, House of Reps, Upper and Lower House is. What is what and what do they actually mean to each other? When we vote in a Federal election why do we have to fill out that ridiculously large sheet of paper and who are we actually voting for, Senators for House of Reps or something else?
And where does State and Local Government fall in to this?
I feel like an idiot asking anyone and have read about it in Wikipedia but I’m still confused by it all.
And I have a feeling that Jamila will definitely be able to help with this one
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Senate = Upper House. Each state has twelve senators and each territory has 2.
Ok, here goes:
For the Federal/Commonwealth/Australian Government:
House of Reps = Lower House. Each electorate has one member of parliament. Electorates are meant to have an equal amount of people in each one so everyone is represented equally. The party who wins in the most electorates gets to form government.
Laws begin as bills in the House of Reps. If they pass, they are sent to the Senate to be debated and looked at by committees. If they are passed in the Senate, they become laws. But they can be sent back to the House of Reps to be changed before they become law. This is why the Senate matters.
When we vote in a Federal Election, we elect ALL of the House of Reps, and half of the Senate. At each election, half of the Senate changes over. The idea is to prevent a landslide win landing one party in control of both, which makes it too easy to pass laws which might be unfair. You can only vote to elect an MP to represent the electorate you are enrolled in. So if the Prime Minister doesn’t live in your electorate, you can’t vote for him or her. BUT you elect senators for the entire state you live in. This is what you’re doing when you have the huge sheet of paper.
State Governments each have a parliament. Most have upper and lower houses, but Queensland only has one. I don’t know why. It’s usually the same process as in the Federal Parliament. You vote for them at separate state elections.
Local Government is at separate elections again, and you only vote for a councillor to represent your ward on the Council (at least in NSW, I don’t know how it works in other states).
Hope this helps!
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Oh my goodness, this is really helpful. Thanks Lauren.
One question though, if we only elect half the Senate then who elects the other half?
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Senate terms are 6 years – approx double that of MPs in the House of Reps. So, we do elect all of the senators but, at each general election, only half of them are actually up for election (the other half of the senators are only half way through their term, so they aren’t up for election…it’ll be their turn next election).
The only exception to the normal half senate election is a double dissolution (which is a relatively rarely used way of resolving deadlocks on important legislative issues), where the House of Reps and the whole senate is ‘thrown out’ and all senators are up for election at the same time.
I hope this makes sense
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Senate terms are twice as long as terms for the House of Reps. So at each election the Senators who got voted in last time don’t have to run for re-election this time. Basically once you get elected to the Senate you only have to run in every other election.
Also, if you are a Senator and you quit, your party gets to decide on your replacement (this is currently happening in SA). But if you’re a member of the House of Reps and you quit, then your electorate has to have a by-election.
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That was so helpful! Thanks
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I don’t get the stock market. What is a point and why does it matter?
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Snaps Christy. My investment banker housemate can’t seem to explain it to me either.
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I know that you probably don’t want an explanation, but here goes:
When you buy a share, you actually own a small chunk of a company.
If the company goes on to make more profits than expected, the whole company becomes worth more, because it earns more money than it did previously. Your little chunk of the company (your share) becomes worth more. You can then sell it and pocket the profit.
Some companies pay dividends to shareholders, which is basically distributing its profit to its owners.
The purpose of the share market is, at its most fundamental level, a way for the company to raise money for its growth and operations from the public in exchange for small amounts of ownership.
It’s important because when investors move their money out of shares (sell their shares) and re-invest in safer assets like gold, it means that money is being moved out of circulation in the economy. Companies have less money available to them and become less able to produce goods & pay employees. The economy will slow down as a result – giving rise to a depression if it goes far enough.
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Great explanation! Thanks. I feel much more knowledgeable after reading your post!
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It’s also important to know that the price of a share can also change due to the ye olde supply and demand scenario – if a particular company share is in demand, then the price will rise and vice versa. Lots of things can affect demand of a share, which is why you see significant market movement after a company announcement which may also affect the price of shares in companies which are similar. Eg Rio Tinto announces a profit downgrade because of economic conditions, you will more than likely see BHP will drop slightly too.
Sorry for the TLDR explanation, I work on a trading floor so can explain stuff like this with my eyes shut to confused friends and family!
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I can’t for the life of me get my head around working out which energy company will give me the cheapest electricity & gas. Can anyone tell me? I am in Victoria. Every time I try to get interested in doing the research it is all so boring and complicated.
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Superannuation! I don’t get what all the paperwork means.
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The paperwork is for gaining permission to allow a 24 yo private school kid to diminish your hard earned nest egg via investing in hybrids they don’t understand, and charge you an offensive fee while they’re at it
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omg i have NO clue about supperannuation!
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Superannuation is just a savings plan into an account that you just can’t touch in, like, forever.
Companies want you to think that its complicated so that you won’t move it and they can make money from your investment – every company, without exception.
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Ooh! Ooh! This one I can help with (I work for a superannuation company). Which forms do you need to understand? It seems SO much more complicated than it is. But it’s actually pretty straight forward. Happy to help if you let me know which form you struggle with.
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Is the co-contribution thingy still happening?
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Yes
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I know it’s wrong but I just felt happy that you have those blanks Mia! I have been a mum since I was 21 and I now have an 11yr old, 8yr old and 19 month old all of whom are smarter than me!!!! Thank god for things like Mamamia that give me a little edge on what’s going on so when I go out with the mums in my new mothersgroup ( all have degrees and are working as well as running there households) I feel like I can hold some sort of conversation that doesn’t revolve around my children. I know I’m not dumb and feel I am raising 3 beautiful intellegent generous daughters but there definetly are BLANKS. Thanks for making me feel normal and ok about that
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I keep forgetting which continent the Middle East is in…
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Africa (see below) and Asia. If anyone is interested the border between Europe and Asia are the Bosforus Straits in Turkey. Istanbul is actually in Europe.
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Yep, I think I remember that most of Turkey is in the Asian continent (Anatolia), but the far West is in Europe… is that right?
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Most of Istanbul is actually in Asia but the city (uniquely) spans two continents so can be said to be in both Asia and Europe. As to which continent the Middle East is in is not clear as it’s not really clearly defined. Egypt is certainly part of Africa and Iran definitely part of Asia but the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula very unclear. It’s not a term much used by geographers these days because of its imperial overtones in defining everything with reference to how far away it is from Europe – the Near East, the Middle East and the Far East are all with reference to taking a ship from London.
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I didn’t realise that Egypt was part of Africa…. but really… is it really??
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Yes it is on the African continent. It is also part of the Middle East, but that is a political/geographical region like Oceania (Australia is part of this), but it is actually part of Africa as well.
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There’s a new tax coming in on July 1st??
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The Carbon Tax is coming out then. I’ll be happy to give a basic explanation of the theory behind it, without the politics.
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I wish I knew more about the chemistry involved with baking – the sort of knowledge which would allow me to improvise more freely and correct my mistakes rather than just fumbling through.
I hate it when people judge others as being ‘stupid’ because their general knowledge isn’t up to scratch. My MIL loves to ridicule people on Talking ‘Bout your Generation who don’t know the answers to the questions that she thinks should be obvious (usually to do with the wars or something like that). But as I tried to point out to her once, there are heaps of things that they will know that she simply won’t, and that doesn’t make her stupid. Yes, sometimes I think we all should know more about certain things, but knowing about one thing doesn’t make you better than someone else.
Mind you, whenever my husband quotes a movie or talks about some obscure plot point she is always going on about how fantastic his memory is. Never mind that he would forget her birthday every year if I didn’t remind him…
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Hooray!! Now this is more like it guys!!
You are not alone Mia, I think we all have our secret blackspots.
I can’t wait to see these topics, I have too many to start adding but I am sure they are mostly already covered in other comments.
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Feminism please…
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There is a rough explanation about 1/2 way down.
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Sorry going to add one thing along with my grammar issues.
How the hell do planes fly?????? it simply doesn’t make sense!
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This one is easy, for me anyway. I’ll just give the basics of lift. On some aircraft you can see what I’m bout to describe happen as the plane accelerates down the runway. Basically it has to do with the shape of the wing surface. As an aircraft moves forward the air moves over the top and under the bottom of the wing. This creates a difference in air pressure, with the higher air pressure on the underside of the wing. This air pressure literally lifts up the wing, which is what you can see on some aircraft..the actual wing lifting up. As such this in turn lifts the aircraft and keeps it up. When landing the aircraft slows to reduce the lift, a landing is really a controlled crash letting gravity assert itself over a distance.
My poor wife hates it as I explain how an aircraft flies when we go up. Incidentally a helicopter uses the same principal except the lift creating surfaces (rotor blades) are moving.
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I’m flying next week.. I don’t want to be thinking about our landing as a ‘controlled crash’!
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Air resistance
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Resistance is futile. Sorry that was my Trek nerd coming out.
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Resistence is futile. Sorry that was my Trek nerd coming out.
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It’s quite simple really…
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Lol, my husband works on fighter jets in the air force – he’s so getting this emailed at work. Also kinda mucks up the all the cool words and mechanisms he’s now trying to teach our 3 yr old
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That’s brilliant!
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I must admit that some grammatical things such as proper pronouns, passive verbs etc are like mumbo jumbo to me. And when I found myself teaching at uni this year well….lets just say my lack of knowledge led me to study quite intensively one evening!
I just don’t know how I don’t know this stuff and am terrified of the other learned gaps in my knowledge which will be highlighted when my kids enter highschool eeeekkkkkkk
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I don’t know how old you are, Jade, but when I was in primary school (1978-84), the strategy was ‘creative writing’. We wrote without the impingement of grammar, language, rules. Unfortunately, that hasn’t served us well as time has moved on. I too would live to know about grammar, rules etc. apostrophes? Who knew?
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I’m hopeless at a lot of things car, finance, technology, environmental science. Luckily my Dad and brother are very knowledgeable in these areas. Although every time they try and explain it to me I can not for the life of me understand. It may be laziness though because I just assume they will take care of it all. Give me humanities any day! I was once talking to my exs sister about the holocaust and she turned to me and said what’s that? It was so hard to keep the shock off my face and out of my voice when I explained it. She was only five years behind me in school but I wonder if maybe in history they focused on recent wars and perhaps the history leading up to it.
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for all those who struggle with geography, may i suggest buying a map and hanging it somewhere in your house.
I’m not being sarcastic.
there are some great maps around that actually look nice just to hang on your wall as a picture/artwork. that they are educational is a bonus. if you’re short on space a globe would be good too.
i have a huge map printed on canvas from IKEA and the kids are always looking at it and asking questions. i often go looking for countries/cities too.
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Top idea, green trees. Will have a look around.
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I’ll also add that Google Maps is your friend. I’m constantly looking up unknown places using Google Maps, especially small towns and villages.
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I bought a world map and stuck it up in my office. It reminds me there is a world beyond this office(!) and good for geography!
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Or buy a globe. While it’s not great for the finer details (unless you have a magnifying glass), it’s great for the big picture. Keep it in your living room and when something crops up about a given country (assuming you at least know which continent it’s on) it’s great for giving you a good all-round concept of the lay of the land, so to speak. Kids love it too and will learn much more about the world.
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Or Google Earth. Not only do you see where it is, but what it looks like.
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I have world facebook on my iPhone. It updates regularly and gives you maps, as well as summaries the geography, govt, economy, people, communications, military, transport and transnational issues of any given country.
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Fantastic idea!
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i had a friend who had a map on the toilet wall- great place to ‘sit’ for a while and ponder geography!
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Maps are a great idea. When my children were little, my brother was working in the UK and doing lots of travelling in Europe and Africa. Every time we heard from him we would put a mark on the map showing where he was. They learnt a lot about geography and I think were inspired to find out about the world…so much so that my 25 year old son is now working in the UK!
A friend does something similar with coloured pins. Each family member has a colour and a pin goes into the place on the map in the study when they travel there. It was very useful when her husband travelled for work, so that the children could see where he was.
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There are so many great ideas here! But it is also serving to remind me how much I don’t know – because on at least every second comment I find myself saying “yeaaaah! I don’t get that either”.
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I love this idea for a post! Can you do a post on finance? How best to manage a budget or on simple investments like how do you buy shares or know what shares to buy? Also, what the hell is a dow jones?
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There is a great government site with financial advice, moneysmart.gov.au. My own bank manager recommended it to me and said that he uses the budget planner for his own budgeting as it is better than the ones that the bank produces. I’ve been using it for a few months now with my budget and it is great. The site also has lots of useful info re super etc.
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Thanks anon!
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A simple never fail budget:
Spend less than you earn.
The end.
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That simplistic advice is like telling a fat person to expend more energy than they are consuming in calories.
If it were that easy, every person in the western world would be thin with a fat bank account balance, rather than the other way around (which is much more common).
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that is such a Dad comment…
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PLEASE Geography. I know lots of people have requested it but my concept of it is truly pathetic. If someone refers to a place and I don’t know where it is.. I just picture the whole globe in my head and figure I’m close.
Also, American politics. I know we’re Australian but we do hear a fair bit about American politics on the news and I’d love to understand. The jargon in books is just massively difficult to even start with if you’re not American.
OOO how about a post on grammar and punctuation? Like when ‘s or s’ or just s should be used. Or when to use to and too. Or when to use who or whom. Hopefully most people know when to use their, there or they’re but maybe a cute ditty to help remember?The Guardian newspaper in the UK has a great website for this but I get a bit bogged down and forget the little but important things.
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I’d be happy to help out with some grammar stuff!
Apostrophes: ‘s is used after singular nouns and proper names to show possession–Mia’s website, the dog’s dish. s’ is used after plural nouns to show possession–the students’ work = the work of all of the students. s’s is used after proper names–Ross’s Auctions, James’s house.
Too: also, as well as–I like chocolate, too. Also when saying too much, too little, too short, too late, etc. Two: the number. To: everything else.
Whom is used if the answer can be phrased using him or her–To whom are you speaking? I am speaking to him. Who is calling? He is calling.
Their = possession. There = location. They’re = they are.
And I am sure someone will correct me on something but all this comes straight out of a grammar book and yes, I am an English teacher! But we all routinely break these rules when we speak because that is just how we speak, but we should use proper rules when writing!
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Well said!
Define the use of the gerund, I dare you!
I was at a conference last weekend and every single PowerPoint slide show needed to have been proof read. In the end I barely heard what anyone was saying because I was so distracted by every misplaced apostrophe, incorrect ‘there’ and poorly spelled word that I couldn’t focus anymore. I find it so soothing to the eyes when I read something where all the above is correct.
PS. F*ck me I hope I spelled everything correctly in this post…
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A Gerund is an -ing word.
Or another way of thinking about it is Progressive, as in thinking etc.
Helps to study other languages.
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Hey my2cents – I’ve always written it as “Ross’ Auctions, James’ house”, have I been getting it wrong and it’s meant to be s’s?
Ooooops! Learnt something new. Thanks
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Thanks! It was new to me too when I first saw it but yes, with proper nouns that’s how it is! And yes, gerunds always end in -ing but they are used as nouns not past participles, like Swimming is his favourite sport.
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I just can’t take in politics, especially international. My eyes glaze over when my boyfriend discusses it and I sometimes ask, “Who’s he again?”
His is pop music – anything later than the late 1970s. We were at the pub with friends and he whispered in my ear, “Who’s Justin Timberlake?”
Edit: He insists that Juan Diego Flores is recent. QED.
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What’s the “Disability Insurance Scheme?”
Is it a scheme to offer insurance to disabled people? What sort of insurance? Health? Car? Home + contents?
Or is it a scheme to insure the government against having to pay lots of Disability Pensions…?
? ? ?
I don’t get this one.
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Mamamia already did a cheat sheet on this one! You must of missed it but I was totally lost before I read it too.
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I don’t wish to sound like the grammar police but one of my pet peeves is ‘must of’ when it’s ‘must have’. Having said that, I confess that even with a husband and two sons who are electricians, I still can’t understand how electricity works!
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I was very surprised that when visiting Monaco, I was the only person on a coach tour who had heard of Princess Grace. (these people were mainly all Aussies).
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I think that the only thing that you need to know is that it is a good thing.
It will provide support for those most in need. And before someone starts, the Disability Support pension is not an answer for everyone.
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Long division, I’m dreading the day my daughter brings it home for homework.
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Had to do it for uni this semester. Didn’t seem as painful as I remember.
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I never learnt long division! My mum, brother, boyfriend and I all failed at doing it in my 10 year old sister’s maths homework.
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Long division has been permanently deleted from my memory…
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Had to do long division with my year 8 boy this year. I read the maths text book, looked at the examples and then was able to explain it to him. Its a block in our brain, sort of like brussel sprouts, we are supposed to hate them and then when you grow up they are not so bad. Its a “rule” to not get long division and its really not that hard. Never actually used it, couldn’t do it now, but was able to assist my boy.
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http://www.mathsisfun.com
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Computers & the language that changes so quickly around them…
Does to ‘rip’ something mean copy it ?
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Yes you can ‘rip’ an original CD and ‘burn’ it onto a blank CD.
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Thanks, appreciate the info.
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well no, copy means to make an a 2nd disk of a cd, rip means to take the tracks and add them to you computer hard drive.
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Computers & the language that changes so quickly arund them… Does to ‘rip’ something mean copy it ?
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Religion, History, Technology and Parliament – the rest is so, so
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tennis. wtf is a ‘love’
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I hate tennis, but “love” is no score. So 30 love is 30 – 0.
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I think it comes from the French ” l’oeuf ” which means egg and is like a zero hence 30 love is 30-0
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